Fishhook and snell



Jul 2, 1940. V 2 w, L; HOVEY 2,206,321

FI SHHO OK AND SNELL Filed Jan. 24, 1938' IN VENTOR 2427112772 //01 'e BY %A TT OfNE Y5.

n in such manner that it will not be rendered inhook and s ell constructedaccording to one form 10 9PM? 9f p in ontionis provide through the eye' lByand then upward for attach 5 PatenteclJuly2,1940 2,206,321:

UNITED STATES- memorie FIsHIiooK AND SNE I;

William L.l Heve Flint,- Mich. ,1 i Application Jemima, 1938, Serial e; 186,527 i tonn s. (01. 42- 40) Theinvention relates generally to angling and -a construction for obtaining these results which i it has particular relationto fishhooksand shells. can be manufacturedlvery inexpensively. r ,In angling or fishing the use of l live minnows Other objects of the invention will become apas bait is quite universal. Generally,jthe minnow parentfrom the following specification, the draw? 5 isattachecl to the hook by passing the barbed ing to which itrelatesyand fromthe claims here- 5 end of the latter either through the mouth of inafterset forth.

the minnow or through the back just above the 1 For a lbetter understanding of the invention, backbone and under the dorsal fin It is imreference may be had to the drawingrwherein portant that the minnow be attached to the hook Figure 11 is a side elevational View of a fish active, as a moving minnow is more attractive of the invention; illustrating a minnowattaehed ,as a lure to fish. While passage of the hook tothe hook;

throughthe mouth of the minnow will notrem F g. 2 is a topp afi View of the construction; der itiinaotive, the minnow in swimming around S L K f g- H l 1 l in the water usually carries the hook or supports ig. 3 is a view of the fishhook and shell assenp 15 it and this causes the minnow to tire more quickbl y shown by Fig. swan the minnow removed; it. Moreover, usually thehook is not in the most and n l I 1 9 l desired position to be taken by the fish, when it Fig; 415 an end view of the construction shown is considered that a minnow is taken headfirst b a seen r m t right e d t eof; 50, by the fish. When they minnowis suspended by e i g to Figures 1 and 2, a fishhookgco n- 2Q means of alhook passing just over its backbone, edord t 0116 f O the ent n. it generally will remain in a horizontal position 1111155131 a e eral y a Snell nected and swim around, but the barb portion of the he e is indicated a l2, ahda minnow attached 1 hook is not in a good position as the barb projects 130' h hook i Q3 l d all Q 'L cl r upwardly midway of the ends of the minnow and b ur 3 a d th Shank 0f o is n when a fish attempts to take the minnow head carted and -1 1 3' 5 t first, the shank of the hook and barb portion are d e n s k -1L hav a ar generally cross-wise of the mouth of the fish. It L Whlle h hookjportion al y teIidS is true that many fish are caught by attaching a on h a k l0, and is substantially in (th i Q minnows to hooks in the manner described; but 1 1 h h nk, i l w be noted l' ii is usually this is because the fish at last sufficiently 95 W Q O l r lly to a; certa iri'e'xtent. takes the bait that the hook passes into the mouth t 1 5 1 1 0 6 end, the Shank I5 is: bent to form of lthe fish. In many instances, the minnow is g j j s apl e e te dins ranspulled ortorn from the hook before thebarb v r el tq h n O h a d defi ing in? portion of the latter enters the mouth of the appfoxmlately T151111 ng e Wlth the shank. 35

fish or at least before such barb portion hooks While the hook PQ ftfi andt y DO iQ l- 1' thefish. The present invention relates generally t e Shown at pp ide of the shank, to improvements having objects as follows. hookpqrtwn mlght be rq q d at h q e One of the principal objects of the invention d o Shank, al hou IS p eferable to i to provide an improved fishhook and shell h l It at th 2 r reasons that W11 be 40 i which are so arranged and related that the shank a l a i m ey nd h e i t e of the hook; and hence the hook generally, may mmg: th xtend s jclownwardly and be held insubstantially a horizontal position with l e l f at Q m lo m FF t?- the minnow substantially in a horizontal position g g gg g eQP r q k r eif 4a and the barbed portion of the hook at the head Thejisnui l2; whichlmay beuconstrutddf g end of the t n r small coppenwire, or the like, has a substantial Another object of theiinvention is to provide a end portion 23 laying aldhg the under Side of fishhouk in b h f t the shank l5 and which is bound thereto tightly a isubstantla lly horizontal position with the by means w Wrapping silk thmad or i b g d d of t hook ailment 9 t t su qu t ymay be coated with shellac, mmnow, h the atra-ngementls u ll aswill be readily -junderstood. At the rearward the shank of the hookwill be held in substant al nd of th yt 11 xt b yon t alignment with the minnow. i eye I8, then upwardly, and then forwardly merit to a fishing line. It will be appreciated that the snell has substantial stiffness and that by arranging it in the manner described. and shown, the shank of the hook tends to stay in a horizontal position when it is suspended by the snell. In this connection, the part 23 of the snell, laying along the under side of the hook, provides a rigidity of attachment between the snell and shank that helps in maintaining the latter horizontal, and additionally and primarily v v the snell, in engaging the upper part of the eye I8, acts on the latter similarly to a lever arrangement, tending constantly to move the eye por tion into alignment with the upwardly projecting snell and this in turn tends to tilt the shank l5 upwardly. It will be appreciated in this connection that the eye l8 may be varied in position, such for example as by reducing the included angle between the eye and the shank so that the tendency to tilt the shank upwardly can be varied as found most desirable.

Now referring to Figures 1 and 2,-the hook is attached to the minnow in the following manner. First; with the shank vertical, the barb i1 is passed upwardly through the lips of the minnow minnows Then the hook can be turnedso that the barb 2i projects upwardly.

As now arranged, the minnow is generally along the shank of the hook, with the hook portion 16 generally fitting over the head of the minnow, and the two together are generally horizontal. Moreover, the minnow is not injured seriously in applying the two hooks and may move about in the water freely; Itnnght be added. that in addition to the for-ces tending to keep the shank of the hook horizontal, theminlnow itself will tend to remain horizontal, so that altogether the lure presented is that of a minnow'sw'imming or moving around in a hOIi? zontal position. An important point to be considered is that the front barbed'end' of the hook practically fits thecontour of the hea d of the 'fish'and therefore is in'position to be freely and immediately taken by a fish. If a fish attacks the baitor minnow, it does so from the head end of the latter, and it can be readily seen that in so doing its mouth moves over thebarb part of the front hook without difficulty. Once the "forward portion of. the minnow is in the fis'hs. mouth,

any reverse movement immediately causes the barb to pierce the roof of the fishs mouth and thus catch the latter. It may be mentioned here that when a fish takes the bait, or-

dinarily it tends to tilt the forward portion of the minnow downwardly so as to move the barb towards the roof of the fishs mouth. Normally the secondary hook will not be instrumental in I catching the fish and, as'amatter of fact, this is not desired because then two hooks would have to-be removed. The eye portion, snell, and secondary hook ordinarily will present an obstacle T to movement of the fishs mouth past the central portion of the minnows body,' but even though the fishs mouthmoved over the secondaryhook,

" tithe bar orv the latter is not in a good position to become caught as it'projects transversely to the minnow body.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that the invention generally provides an arrangement and construction which enables placing the hook generally along the body of the minnow with the hook portion generally fitting over the head of the min-now, with the barb projecting rearwardly.

In other Words, the hook and minnow are so arranged that any fish taking the minnow head first as fish normally will do, takes the hook portion first with the shank'substantially parallel to the movement of the fish.- Once the hook is in a proper position to move into the fishs mouth,

the instant the head of the minnow moves into catching a fish. According to the present inven- -3 tion, it is practically impossible for any fish to take the minnow without at the same time taking the hook and being caught. It will be readily recognized that lthe invention can be manufactured inexpensively, as the entire hook may be manufactured from a single wire and the 1 snell secured thereto in an inexpensive manner.

. Although only one form of the invention has been described and illustrated in detail, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made Without departing'from the scope of the appended'claims.

What is claimed .is: 1. In combination, a fishhook having a substantially straight shank terminating at its forward-end in a hook portion and at its rearward end in an eye portion that is disposed in a plane transverse to the shank, and a snell fastened one end to the shank adjacent the eye and then extending first rearwardly of the eye and then forwardly through the eye and then upwardly with .the opposite end of the snell adapted for "connection with a fish line, whereby when the hook is suspended in the water engagement of the snell with the eye holds the shank of the hook substantially horizontal. 2. In combination, a fishhook having a sub 'stantially straight shank terminating at its forward end in a hook portion and at its rearward end in an eye portion that is disposed in a plane transverse to the shank, and a snell fastened at one end to the shankadjacent the eye and then extending first rearwardly of the eye and then forwardly through the eye and then upwardly with the opposite end of the snell adapted for connection with a fish line, whereby when the hook is suspended in the water engagement of the snell with the eye holds the shank of the 'hook substantially horizontal, said snell having substantial stiffness so that its portion passing through the eye and then upwardly tends constantly to straighten and to move the eye into alignment with the snell portion extending above the eye.

3. In combination, a fishhook having a substantially straight shank terminating at its forward end in a hook portion and'at its rearward end in an eye portion that is disposed on a plane transverse to the shank and which definessubstantially a right angle with the forwardly extending shank, and a snell fastened at one end to the shank adjacent the eye and then-extending rearwardly of the eye and then forwardly with a fish line, whereby when the hook is suspended in the water engagement of the snell with the eye holds the shank of the hook substantially horizontal, said snell having substantial stiffness so that its portion passing through the eye and then upwardly tends constantly to straighten and to move the eye into alignment with tho snell portion extending above the eye.

4. A fishhook comprising a shank having a hook portion at its forward end, an eye portion at the rearward end of the shank and disposed in a plane transverse to the shank, and a hook portion projecting laterally of the shank adjacent the eye portion, and arranged for hooking engagement with a bait, said last mentioned hook portion and eye portion being displaced relatively circumferentially of the shank.

5. In combination, a fishhook having a shank portion terminating at its forward end in a.

hook portion, an eye portion at the rearward end of the hook and which is disposed in a plane transverse to the shank, a second hook portion projecting from the rearward end of the shank and which is disposed in a plane transverse to the shank, and a substantially stiff snell fastened "at one end to the shank adjacent the eye and which extends rearwardly of the eye, then forwandly through the eye; and then upwardly for attachment to a fishing line.

6. A fishhook comprising a wire shank terminating at one end in a barbed hook portion generally in the .plane of the shank, and at its other end in a barbed portion disposed in a plane transverse to and substantially at right angles to the shank, the first barbed portion being adapted to be hooked through the mouth of a bait fish, the shank being adapted to lay along the body of the bait and the second barbed portion being adapted to be hooked laterally through a part of the body of the bait over its backbone.

7. A fishhook comprising a wire shank terminating at one end in a barbed hook portion generally in the plane of the shank and at its other end in a barbed and curved hook portion which projects laterally of the shankandis disposed in a plane transverse to and substantially at right angles to the shank.

8. A fishhook comprising a wire shank terminating at one end in a barbed hook portion generally in the plane of the shank and at its other end in a barbed and curved hook portion which projects laterally of the shank substantially at a right angle thereto and substantially at a right angle to the plane of the first hook portion.

WILLIAM L. HOVEY. 

